“You son of a %^&*#!” barked an elderly protester at a local political event. This is just one of several encounters I had with uncivil public discourse last week.

The angry senior citizen was part of a group of people organized by liberal Catholics United that gathered in Grove City, Pa., Monday to voice opposition to the Susan B. Anthony List’s “Votes Have Consequences Express” bus tour. He directed his venom at one of the SBA List’s pro-life employees, a large man, who responded firmly and nose-to-nose: “Don’t call my mother that! You don’t know who my mother is and neither do I. But I know she’s a wonderful person because she chose to give me up for adoption rather than abort me.”

While I spoke on behalf of the SBA List a few minutes earlier, the Catholics United crowd flashed “LIE” signs at me. The angry old man told me I should be ashamed of myself and another asked me rhetorically which side of the abortion conflict was the first to act violently. “The side that entered the mother’s womb and killed a baby,” I said calmly.

Two days later, a co-worker stopped me in a parking lot and told me that he’s frustrated with the vitriol in American politics.

Read More: http://online.worldmag.com/2010/08/23/fight-nice/

Lee Wishing is, the administrative director of The Center for Vision & Values at Grove City College in Pennsylvania, is happily married to his college sweetheart and makes breakfast for his four kids Monday through Friday.